Well at least it was shaping up like that in the first half. It was by far the most intense, emotionally charged game/half so far and the scrappy Americans clearly outplayed the Italians. BUT THEN... the idiotic Uruguayan official decided he would make some headlines for himself.... For a better commentary check this local Blogger's insightful recap http://JSXinsider.blogspot.com , and someone please tell me where he got the photo of that HOT Italian chick...

Originally posted by riccardo: Well at least it was shaping up like that in the first half. It was by far the most intense, emotionally charged game/half so far and the scrappy Americans clearly outplayed the Italians. BUT THEN... the idiotic Uruguayan official decided he would make some headlines for himself....

this is the thing about soccer (aka "football") that i hate the most. it's so low scoring that luck plays far too big a factor in the final result. one dumb umpiring decision can completely turn a game around, something that can't happen in games like rugby, oz rules, cricket, etc.

Lemme guess, Solo? by the way Bapak Semar, those pics I sent you by email, I was trying to put them up on a thread in the Jl Jaksa section, but to no avail. My mate Warren, who has that blog mentioned above, JSXinsider.blogspot.com, told he'd put a few of them up for me on his site later today.

Wallet, the usa isn't "crappy", I said "scrappy", meaning they are a bit less talented than Italy, but fight harder, literally "to scrap" for everything they can get. In most sporting circles it's considered a compliment to be the tough and scrappy overachiever.

Best game so far....Argentina vs Serbia-Montenegro, always was going to be an Argies win, but the sheer class of this team was soooooo apparent. Feel's even better for me since I have been crowing on about them! Team to watch.

Well Wallet, the USA boys did not really do enough to warrant advancement. I really wanted them to go through as well, 4 of the national team members are from my university (UCLA)...

I think it Coach Bruce Arena's fault. What was this new conservative strategy?? Totally backfired. Maybe he has gotten old and needs to be replaced soon! The USA really needs to drop the patriotism BS, shell out some serious $$$ and hire a European Coach with serious credentials, a la, Guus Hiidink. He took the Koreans to the final 4 last time and has the Aussies in the second round now!